Helpful Score: 1
This is Book 3 of the Divergent trilogy.
As hard as it is to do with this book, I am writing a spoiler-free review.
I can't decide if I hated this book, or merely disliked it. I think I come out somewhere in the middle (but ever so slightly closer to hate).
Compared to all of the action and adventure that was packed into the first two books, this third book felt oddly dull. While the reader is finally given the opportunity to peer behind the curtain to learn about the world outside of Chicago, it isn't really enough to make you feel involved. After so much gritty interaction and conflict, this third book actually felt very sterile and somehow disconnected. Roth had a great opportunity there, and I feel like she squandered it completely.
Also, the format of the book changed. The first two books were told from Tris's perspective. This book alternates between Tris and Four for the entire length of the book. And while I was initially intrigued about the opportunity to spend more time inside Four's head, having him narrate every other chapter made for a rather disjointed reading experience. It was also confusing, because the "voices" for Tris and Four sounded exactly the same. I kept having to go back to the chapter heading to see which character was speaking.
The resolution of this book made me feel similar to the way I felt at the end of Paolini's Inheritance Cycle: disappointed, a little cheated, and haunted with the sense that much of this entire reading experience was a waste. I don't know what I was expecting, but I feel like Roth ruined a decent series by throwing together a slapdash storyline and subjecting her main characters to an unworthy, unsatisfying, and undeserved ending.
Is it a book (or series) worth reading? In all, I'm not sure. Divergent introduces the reader to an interesting (and plausible) dystopian world. Insurgent continues to move the plot forward, although it starts to get bogged down with unending conflicts. Allegiant seems to strike this strange contract where a lot is going on but nothing ever really happens, which isn't what you want in a series finale. The plot just got too heavy, too needlessly complex, and too overly introspective to remain plausible. The end result was that it simply collapsed under its own weight and the reader is left standing among the wreckage. Divergent started things off with so much potential. It is a shame that Allegiant was truly unable to deliver.
As hard as it is to do with this book, I am writing a spoiler-free review.
I can't decide if I hated this book, or merely disliked it. I think I come out somewhere in the middle (but ever so slightly closer to hate).
Compared to all of the action and adventure that was packed into the first two books, this third book felt oddly dull. While the reader is finally given the opportunity to peer behind the curtain to learn about the world outside of Chicago, it isn't really enough to make you feel involved. After so much gritty interaction and conflict, this third book actually felt very sterile and somehow disconnected. Roth had a great opportunity there, and I feel like she squandered it completely.
Also, the format of the book changed. The first two books were told from Tris's perspective. This book alternates between Tris and Four for the entire length of the book. And while I was initially intrigued about the opportunity to spend more time inside Four's head, having him narrate every other chapter made for a rather disjointed reading experience. It was also confusing, because the "voices" for Tris and Four sounded exactly the same. I kept having to go back to the chapter heading to see which character was speaking.
The resolution of this book made me feel similar to the way I felt at the end of Paolini's Inheritance Cycle: disappointed, a little cheated, and haunted with the sense that much of this entire reading experience was a waste. I don't know what I was expecting, but I feel like Roth ruined a decent series by throwing together a slapdash storyline and subjecting her main characters to an unworthy, unsatisfying, and undeserved ending.
Is it a book (or series) worth reading? In all, I'm not sure. Divergent introduces the reader to an interesting (and plausible) dystopian world. Insurgent continues to move the plot forward, although it starts to get bogged down with unending conflicts. Allegiant seems to strike this strange contract where a lot is going on but nothing ever really happens, which isn't what you want in a series finale. The plot just got too heavy, too needlessly complex, and too overly introspective to remain plausible. The end result was that it simply collapsed under its own weight and the reader is left standing among the wreckage. Divergent started things off with so much potential. It is a shame that Allegiant was truly unable to deliver.
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